Community and intergovernmental methods

The Community method is the expression used for the institutional operating mode set up in the first pillar of the European Union. It proceeds from an integration logic with due respect for the subsidiarity principle, and has the following salient features:

•Commission monopoly of the right of initiative;
•widespread use of qualified majority voting in the Council;
•an active role for the European Parliament;
•uniform interpretation of Community law by the Court of Justice.

It contrasts with the intergovernmental method of operation used in the second and third pillars, which proceeds from an intergovernmental logic of cooperation and has the following salient features:

•the Commission's right of initiative is shared with the Member States or confined to specific areas of activity;
•the Council generally acts unanimously;
•the European Parliament has a purely consultative role;
•the Court of Justice plays only a minor role.

See:

•Community law 
•Court of Justice of the European Union 
•Governance
•Monitoring the application of Community law 
•Pillars of the European Union 
•Qualified majority 
•Right of initiative 
•Single institutional framework